Lawmakers pass measure to ease prison overcrowding LITTLE ROCK (AP) — Arkansas lawmakers have approved measures to provide extra funding to the state Department of Correction in an effort to relieve overcrowding in state and local lockups. The House and Senate on Tuesday approved separate bills aimed at easing an influx of state inmates at local prisons. Lawmakers were expected to give final approval to the legislation shortly after midnight Wednesday. Under the plan, the state would transfer ...

Lawmakers give initial OK to moratorium on keno LITTLE ROCK (AP) — The Arkansas House and Senate have approved separate measures calling for a moratorium on electronic lottery games like keno, lining up the chambers to adjourn their special session in the early hours Wednesday. The House on Tuesday passed the moratorium on a 96-1 vote, while the Senate approved the measure on a 34-0 vote. Final votes are expected shortly after midnight Wednesday. The measure bars the state lottery from laun...

DHS forms team to study unexpected child deaths BENTON (AP) — The Arkansas Department of Human Services has formed a new team to review unexpected child deaths in six Arkansas counties. The team will review the unexpected deaths of infants and children in Arkansas, Garland, Grant, Hot Spring, Jefferson and Saline counties. DHS says it's the sixth such team in Arkansas as part of the state's Infant and Child Death Review Program. The program is overseen by Arkansas Children's Hospital's Inju...

Financing closed for new steel mill OSCEOLA (AP) — Big River Steel says it has closed on the financing needed to build its $1.3 billion steel mill in northeastern Arkansas. The company announced Tuesday that it would hold a formal groundbreaking ceremony later this summer at the site in Mississippi County. The plant is expected to employ more than 500 people with an average annual salary of $75,000 once it's up and running. Construction on the steel mill is expected to take abou...

Half-brothers arrested after discovery of body RUDY (AP) — Authorities have arrested two men on suspicion of first-degree murder after the discovery of a body buried behind a home in rural Crawford County. Crawford County Sheriff Ron Brown says a cadaver dog discovered the body Monday in a shallow grave. He told the Southwest Times Record the body was buried about 8 to 10 inches in the ground behind a home in Rudy. Police arrested Nicholas Barrows, 19, and Jonathan Bridgewater, 27, who are...

Rogers police hosting community bike rides ROGERS (AP) — Police are hoping to reduce crime in Rogers by getting the public involved in community bike rides. The Rogers Police Department's bike patrols are hosting bike rides called Pedal With the Police each weekend starting July 6. The police say the program is meant to give citizens and the police a chance to build relationships in a relaxed setting and allow the public to speak with officers about community issues. The bike patrol wi...

Longest lane closures over holiday include RussellvilleLITTLE ROCK (AP) — Arkansas highway officials say 48 miles of major state roads will be under construction and have lane closures during the Fourth of July weekend. The Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department warns that delays may be possible along Interstates 30, 40, 55 and 530 and also along U.S. 67. The longest lane closures, at 8 miles each, are along I-40 near Russellville, I-40 near Forrest City and along I-55 near Osceola. Seven-...

GOP target Pryor surviving TV attacks WARREN (AP) — Television ads have relentlessly attacked Arkansas Sen. Mark Pryor for more than a year, and not even his famous name is off limits. Says a little girl in a spot set at a spelling bee, it's spelled "O-B-A-M-A." In a state where Democrats have become an endangered species in the past decade, the televised onslaught ought to have long since laid flat the Senate incumbent perhaps most vulnerable come November. And yet you'd hardly k...

Fort Smith airport traffic up in first part of 2014 FORT SMITH (AP) — Officials say passenger traffic at Fort Smith Regional Airport is up by more than 7 percent in the first five months of this year. Airport operations director Michael Griffin says a large percentage of the airport's traffic comes from business travelers. The airport serves as an entry point for many manufacturers in the area. The airport offers daily flights to Dallas-Fort Worth and Atlanta, and also provides general aviation...

1 dead in killing in Little Rock LITTLE ROCK (AP) — Little Rock police said a 21-year-old man was shot to death. Police said Roderick Knowlton was shot to death Saturday. The call was reported about 12:15 p.m. Cassandra Davis with the Little Rock police department said detectives are still working to identify a suspect. No other details about the shooting have been released. Davis says detectives are trying to determine a motive.

Site uncovers remains of Native Americans, slaves LITTLE ROCK (AP) — A Native American tribe that was historically based in Arkansas but now calls Oklahoma home is teaming with descendants of African-American slaves to research and preserve an archaeological site that contains the remains of their ancestors. The burial sites were discovered on land that the Quapaw Tribe purchased in 2013. The land was part of the Thiboult Plantation near the Little Rock Port Authority. Before that, it was par...

Bull Shoals owes IRS money from back taxes BULL SHOALS (AP) — The city of Bull Shoals owes the Internal Revenue Service money, but how much depends on who you talk to. The Baxter Bulletin reported money was withheld from employee paychecks but never sent on to the IRS. Now, the city is awaiting a report from the IRS. An accountant hired to straighten out the city's books reported an estimated figure to the council and mayor Thursday night. Council member Phil Friese says the amount is ...

Hillary Clinton signs books in Little RockLITTLE ROCK (AP) — Hillary Rodham Clinton visited a Wal-Mart in Little Rock, Arkansas, on Friday to sign copies of her new book during an event that had people lining up before sunrise. Clinton, a potential 2016 presidential candidate, spent about two hours shaking hands and signing her first name on copies of "Hard Choices," as a line snaked through the store. The former Secretary of State and U.S. senator from New York signed books in the Da...

Governor adds lottery to special session agenda LITTLE ROCK (AP) — Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe on Friday added a proposal to the agenda for next week's legislative session prohibiting the state lottery from adding monitor games such as keno, saying he has received assurances there are enough votes in the House to pass the measure. Beebe added the proposal to his proclamation calling lawmakers back to the Capitol next week for a session focusing on teacher health insurance premiums and prison o...

Convicted killer remains on the loose PINE BLUFF (AP) — A convicted killer who walked away from a work assignment at a prison in Pine Bluff remains on the loose after six days. Arkansas Department of Correction spokeswoman Shea Wilson said Friday that 47-year-old Timothy Buffington is still at large. Wilson says Buffington was doing yard and janitorial work at a house on the prison grounds — but outside the secure area — on Saturday when he broke into the house and took a shotgun ...

Whirlpool given extension for testing devices FORT SMITH (AP) — Whirlpool Corp. is being given 30 extra days to install devices to test for toxic vapors in a Fort Smith neighborhood near the company's former plant that closed in June 2012. The Times Record reported Whirlpool asked the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality for 60 additional days because access to perform the monitoring had not been granted by some property owners. ADEQ Hazardous Waste Division Chief Tammie Hynum tol...

Special session highlights old Capitol LITTLE ROCK (AP) — The last time Arkansas lawmakers took up any substantial legislation in the Old State House building, wireless was something that had just been invented by Guglielmo Marconi and a tweet was something you heard from the birds outdoors. But with the House under renovation, members of the chamber are conducting next week's special session in the historic building that served as Arkansas' state Capitol until 1911. Even for a ses...

Judge delays case for former officer FORT SMITH (AP) — A judge has delayed a hearing in the case of a former Arkansas police officer accused of pointing a gun at a child in eastern Oklahoma. Namaan Matthew Adcock of Muldrow, Oklahoma, is charged with feloniously pointing a firearm and a misdemeanor count of reckless conduct with a firearm. Authorities allege that Adcock threatened to shoot a 5-year-boy and pointed a weapon at deputies when they arrived at the home. Adcock was due...

Court tosses most contempt fines against lawyer LITTLE ROCK (AP) — The Arkansas Supreme Court has tossed out nine of the 10 contempt violations a judge issued to an attorney who represented a former Little Rock police officer in a manslaughter trial over the shooting death of a teenager. Justices on Thursday reversed all but one of the violations and fines that Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen levied against Bill James in last year's trial of Joshua Hastings. Prosecutors in Apri...

Bee Branch man dies in Clinton wreck CLINTON (AP) — Arkansas State Police say one man was killed and two people were injured after a two-vehicle wreck in Clinton. According to a preliminary report, 72-year-old Jimmy Newell of Bee Branch died in the wreck Wednesday. The report says Newell was pulling out of a bank parking lot onto U.S. 65 when his pickup was hit by oncoming Peterbilt truck. Newell was pronounced dead at the scene. A 10-year-old girl in his pickup was taken to Arka...